1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a brassiere and method of making the same and, in particular, a thin fabric brassiere with a nipple cover which conceals a woman's nipple and prevents nipple protrusion beyond the natural arc line of the bust.
2. Description of the Related Art
The modern brassiere is intended to provide shape, support and/or separation, while imparting a comfortable fit and pleasing appearance. The recent trend has been to provide a natural, less confining brassiere having a smooth contour which conforms to the breast. Thus, brassieres with molded, unlined cups made of thin fabrics have been preferred, and the cut and sewn cup with its visible and thickened central seam has been avoided.
Further, with today's fashion emphasis on the "natural look", more light weight and clingy clothes are worn. When such clothing are worn over either a cut and sewn or a molded brassiere, the outline of the brassiere may be visible. When the preferred thin, molded brassiere is worn, in particular, there is a tendency of the wearer's nipples to protrude and the nipples, including the areola surrounding the nipples, to show-through her brassiere as well as the wearer's outer clothing. For many women, this may not be desirable for modesty reasons.
Although this modesty problem may not be prevalent with cut and sewn cups because the seam of the cups may cover the nipple and/or limit nipple protrusion, women prefer molded, unlined cups, which impart a smooth, natural look. Accordingly, nipple protrusion and show-through presents a considerable problem.
Some attempts have been made to solve this problem with a spot bandage-like nipple cover. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,471, issued June 8, 1982, discloses a disc-shaped nipple cover which is intended to be adhesively secured around the surrounding skin of the nipple of the user. A new cover must be put on every time a woman gets dressed. Thus, this concept is terribly inconvenient. Further, this cover only functions as a shield and does not depress the nipple, thereby preventing nipple protrusion.
Prior art references have inherently avoided the above-mentioned problem of nipple show-through or protrusion by resorting to full cup linings of fiberfill or the like. For example, brassieres having pads at or around the nipple area which improve the fit and support of the brassiere cups are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,594,549, issued Apr. 29, 1952, U.S. Pat. No. 2,567,732, issued Sept. 11, 1951, U.S. Pat. No. 2,440,466, issued Apr. 27, 1948, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,420,472, issued May 13, 1947. Such brassieres do not generally satisfy the marketing demands for lighter, softer, more naturally contoured brassieres, and even with a thicker fiberfill or padded cup, the brassiere may cover, but not depress the nipple. Further, such added bulk is a definite consumer disadvantage.
Additionally, nursing or maternity bras having pockets for holding generally bulky, absorbent pads inherently prevent show-through and nipple protrusion. Examples of such nursing brassieres are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,047,522, issued July 14, 1936, U.S. Pat. No. 2,522,010, issued Sept. 12, 1950, U.S. Pat. No. 2,925,816, issued Feb. 23, 1960, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,513,852, issued May 26, 1970.
The problems with the above-mentioned brassieres, in general, is that they are either uncomfortable, bulky and padded while providing a smooth, but overly structured contour, or are thin, unlined and seamless and, thus, subject to unsightly nipple show-through and protrusion. To date, no brassiere satisfies the demand of the current market in providing a thin, light weight brassiere which imparts a natural look, yet is modest in appearance, particularly if the cup fabric is to be unlined and seamless.
It is well known in the prior art to form a multi-layered brassiere which inherently prevents nipple show-through and protrusion by laminating and heating a plurality of fabrics into a three dimensional shape, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 2,304,989, U.S. Pat. No. 3,317,645 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,320,346, to mention but a few. Additionally, means have been devised for incorporating undercup support panels for a brassiere cup as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,172,002, issued Oct. 23, 1979. In accordance with the disclosure of this patent, a support panel is adhered to a brassiere cup fabric in a two step process wherein one temperature is used to adhere the panel to the fabric and, thereafter, the cup and panel are molded into a three dimensional shape at a relatively higher temperature. Such a two step process is costly, yet believed to be necessary to avoid movement and wrinkling of the support panel relative to the cup fabric. This disclosure does not address the problems of positioning, bonding or molding of other than a support panel which provides shape and support to a cup and covers only the lower peripheral portion of the cup, and its method is believed to be inappropriate for securing an apex cover patch to the molded cup fabric.
Other prior art techniques form composite cups with support panels by molding a support patch and cup separately and joining the two by sewing. This is undesirable because of its expense, and the patch and cup cannot always be matched and wrinkles and creases may be produced.
Thus, it is desirable to make a molded breast cup which conceals and depresses the nipples of a wearer in a simplified manner to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages and problems.